INVESTMENT
NCD auction rate falls
The weighted average interest rate in the latest auction of 364-day negotiable certificates of deposit (NCDs) by the central bank yesterday hit a record low as the domestic market remains awash in liquidity. The NCD auction to sell NT$150 billion (US$4.6 billion) of 364-day NCDs saw the average interest rate fall for a 13th straight month to 0.389 percent, compared with 0.417 percent in the previous sale. Local financial firms offered a total of NT$308.67 billion worth of funds in the bidding, lower than NT$313.62 billion in the previous sale, the central bank said.
BANKING
King’s Town posts income
King’s Town Bank (京城銀行) yesterday posted net income of NT$3.36 billion, or NT$2.8 per share, for the first 10 months of this year. The bank said it still held quality assets as of the end of last month, with a lower-than-average non-performing loan ratio of 0.03 percent and a loan coverage ratio of 1.53 percent. Capital Securities Corp (群益證券) on Monday forecast the bank’s net profit could drop 25 percent to NT$3.91 billion for this year, with earnings per share of NT$3.26, because of falling loans and asset impairment losses.
ELECTRONICS
WT gives guidance
IC distributor WT Microelectronics Co (文曄科技) yesterday said revenue for this quarter would be between NT$26.4 billion and NT$28.1 billion, compared with last quarter’s NT$28.73 billion, as companies in the semiconductor supply chain continue adjusting their inventories. Gross margin is forecast to reach 5.6 percent to 5.8 percent, compared with 5.74 percent last quarter, while the operating margin could range from 2 percent to 2.2 percent, slightly lower than last quarter’s 2.25 percent. WT reported a net profit of NT$508 million last quarter and NT$1.48 billion profit in first three quarters, or NT$3.35 per share.
SOLAR ENERGY
Motech ends run of losses
Solar cell maker Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) on Monday posted NT$45 million in net profit for last quarter, ending four straight quarterly losses, compared with losses of NT$595 million in the second quarter and NT$739 million in the same period last year. Motech attributed the improvement to recovering demand for solar products, which drove its revenue to surge 83.65 percent to NT$7.1 billion last quarter from NT$5.14 billion in the previous quarter.
FOOD AND DRINK
More Starbucks coming
President Starbucks Coffee Corp (統一星巴克) expects to increase the chain’s total number of stores to 365 by the end of this year and 400 next year. It highlighted the target yesterday while introducing two festive Christmas coffee drinks and a variety of packaged foods and cup designs for the holiday. The company also said that its loyalty reward card system is to be revamped next year to include mobile-payment options.
ROBOTICS
Delta unveils new trio
Power management system supplier Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday unveiled three industrial robots at the China International Industry Fair in Shanghai. Delta said one of its new robots, the SCARA DRS60L, could triple production efficiency at a plant as well as help conserve energy. Delta chairman Yancey Hai (海英俊) said the firm would continue to invest in smart industrial solutions and robots to help enterprises raise efficiency, reduce costs and conserve energy.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Nvidia Corp’s GB300 platform is expected to account for 70 to 80 percent of global artificial intelligence (AI) server rack shipments this year, while adoption of its next-generation Vera Rubin 200 platform is to gradually gain momentum after the third quarter of the year, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said. Servers based on Nvidia’s GB300 chips entered mass production last quarter and they are expected to become the mainstay models for Taiwanese server manufacturers this year, Trendforce analyst Frank Kung (龔明德) said in an interview. This year is expected to be a breakout year for AI servers based on a variety of chips, as
Global semiconductor stocks advanced yesterday, as comments by Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) at Davos, Switzerland, helped reinforce investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI). Samsung Electronics Co gained as much as 5 percent to an all-time high, helping drive South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI above 5,000 for the first time. That came after the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose more than 3 percent to a fresh record on Wednesday, with a boost from Nvidia. The gains came amid broad risk-on trade after US President Donald Trump withdrew his threat of tariffs on some European nations over backing for Greenland. Huang further
HSBC Bank Taiwan Ltd (匯豐台灣商銀) and the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enhance cooperation on the suspicious transaction analysis mechanism. This landmark agreement makes HSBC the first foreign bank in Taiwan to establish such a partnership with the High Prosecutors Office, underscoring its commitment to active anti-fraud initiatives, financial inclusion, and the “Treating Customers Fairly” principle. Through this deep public-private collaboration, both parties aim to co-create a secure financial ecosystem via early warning detection and precise fraud prevention technologies. At the signing ceremony, HSBC Taiwan CEO and head of banking Adam Chen (陳志堅)
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